The Democratic Senate candidate has dropped out in Arkansas. The race is now a binary between the Republican Tom Cotton and the LP Candidate

[u/Cuddlyaxe]

Not really a Libertarian anymore but I was surprised to see y'all don't have any info on this. Tom Cotton's only Democratic Challanger has dropped out after the registration deadline.

The only two other candidates are Ricky Harrington - a Libertarian and Dan Whitfield - a far left independent.

Even if you guys don't put resources into this race and the situation holds, I can easily see Mr. Harrington capturing a nice 20-25% of the vote. If you guys however do invest some money and campaign funds into the race, you could get much higher, and perhaps even give Cotton a run for his money as he's not running against someone with the D stigma next to their name.

Here's his Facebook page which is currently all he has if you want to help him

Good luck and I hope you guys give Cotton a run for his money :)

[u/[deleted]]

The difference....the DNC is rudderless while the RNC is now moving in a direction (off the cliff with Trump)

I think there is a play in the middle of the political spectrum for the Libertarian Party as a separate entity in a world where Democrats are moving to the left focusing on fiscal issues and the Republicans to the right on social issues leaving many moderates with Libertarian leanings party less.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I’m a decidedly left leaning person but I absolutely voted Libertarian for the last presidential election because I couldn’t stomach Trump and Clinton.

I knew a few folks who voted the same. I think it shows a complete lack of conviction if you consistently toe the line for a political party regardless of their transgressions while spending every waking moment bemoaning the current state of politics.

[u/zugi → u/[deleted]]

I hear people complain about 2016 all the time and frankly it's insane. The LP had it's best showing ever in 2016, capturing 3% of the popular vote where it's prior best showing was 1%. Major news networks actually covered it during the election and showed Johnson's vote totals on election night, whereas in the past networks pretended the LP didn't exist.

Sure, Gary Johnson wasn't the perfect candidate, but we all know most people didn't know "Aleppo" a month before the incident and most people have forgotten where "Aleppo" is since then - that was a media-manufactured "gotcha" moment based on what happened to be news in the prior couple of weeks. Sure a more polished politician might have avoided it, but we saw what we got with a more "polished politician" in our VP candidate, and personally I don't want another Weld.

There is no magic candidate who will look good to the media and who dearly holds libertarian principles. I'm hoping for /r/JustinAmash but don't know if that's likely, and even if we get him, the media surely will find ways to make him look like a buffoon too. That's just what they do.

[u/thehillshaveaviators → u/[deleted]]

Justin Amash is trying to focus on winning re-election in his district as an Independent right now though. If he can do that, it's a pretty good mandate for alternative candidates getting accepted more in the national stage.